Transportable and stackable material handling baskets



March 11, 1969 J. B. HOWITT 3,432,039

TRANSPORTABLE AND STACKABLE' MATERIAL HANDLING BAS KETS Filed July 18. 1966 Sheet of 2 /NVENTOR A TTOIRNEyS March 11,1969 J. B. HOWITT TRANSPORTABLE AND STACKABLE MATERIAL HANDLING BASKETS Sheet Filed July 18. 1966 R mw M no NH B I ATToRuEys United States Patent Ofiice 3,432,039 Patented Mar. 11, 1969 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to material holding baskets which can be stacked one upon another or one above the other upon vertically disposed racks when transported during use, and when empty may be separated into two portions, said portions being adapted for stacking in nestable relationship to reduce the space occupied during nonuse.

This invention relates to material holding baskets of the type in which material is transportable from one position to another.

It has been the practice to manufacture material handling baskets in the form of open top boxes and to mount such boxes on caster type wheels. Such boxes take up a large area of floor space and are awkward to stack one upon another. Furthermore, such boxes when used to ship material from one plant to another, not only take up excessive space during shipment but are wasteful of space and incur high shipping cost when they are returned empty.

The present invention consists essentially of a material holding basket which can be stacked one upon the other; stacked one above the other upon vertically disposed racks, mounted on a dolly or hand truck for transportation from one place to another and, when empty it can be separated into two portions, the portions being stackable with each other and with the portions of other baskets for transportation back to an original location. The stacked portions of the baskets take up a minimum of space, thereby greatly reducing return shipping costs.

The basket consists of a top and bottom horizontally disposed angle, rectangular frames spaced apart by vertically disposed corner member, with the bottom angle frame being of slightly smaller size than the top frame. The vertical sides of the basket can be closed in by either metal, plastic, plywood or fibre sheets or by wire mesh panels. In one form of the invention the basket is divided along a diagonal vertical plane with a pair of contiguous angles disposed one in each half of the basket to brace the lower angle frame. Suitable contiguous corner members are joined together with suitable fasteners whereby the two halves of the basket can be quickly joined together or be quickly separated. The two triangular shaped halves of the basket can be nested together with other triangular shaped halves and be tied in a bundle for return shipment,

taking up a minimum of shipping space at greatly reduced shipping cost.

The basket of the present invention does not include caster type wheels and is provided with a removable bottom plate. A dolly or hand truck which can service numerous baskets is provided with a rectangular recess on its upper surface forming a seat to receive the bottom edge of the bottom angle frame in order to hold the basket in a fixed position relative to the dolly or hand truck.

In another form of the basket the diagonal brace members in the bottom angle frame are dispensed with where a self levelling dolly or hand truck is used to transport the basket from one location to another. In such case, the dolly or hand truck can be provided with a spring mounted plate which, when the basket is mounted on the dolly or hand truck, will contact the underside of the removable bottom plate whereby the bottom plate is held at a high level while the basket is being lowered into position on the dolly or hand truck. The bottom plate is therefore held at a handy level and will be lowered as material is loaded onto it.

The object of the invention is to provide material handling baskets or containers of light weight and cheap construction and without wheels, which can readily be stacked vertically upon themselves or on a vertically disposed rack.

A further object of the invention is to provide a basket or container which can be used with a variety of types of dolly or hand truck either of the type having caster type wheels or having an elevating platform.

A further object of the invention is to provide a basket or container made in two separable parts, the separate parts adapted to be nested with each other for return empty shipment.

A further object of the invention is to provide a basket container having a bottom angle frame adapted to seat in a dolly or hand truck for transportation from one place to another.

A further object of the invention is to provide a basket or container having top and bottom angle frames either of which is engageable by a fork-lift truck or stacker.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed specification and the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a basket according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the basket shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional plan view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2 but showing two baskets nested one on top of the other.

FIG. 5 is an end elevational view of a series of half baskets nested in each other for return shipment.

FIG. '6 is a plan view of the nest of half baskets shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional plan view showing the method of securing the half baskets together.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged vertical section showing the method of engaging the diagonal brace members of the half baskets with each other.

FIG. 9 is an end elevation of a rack adapted to support the baskets one above the other.

FIG. 10 is an end view, partly in section, showing the basket supported on a dolly or hand truck.

FIG. 11 is a vertical side sectional elevation of a hand truck having a self-elevating load carrying platform adapted to receive a basket according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a vertical end sectional elevation of the arrangement shown in FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of the base of the hand truck shown in FIGS. Hand 12.

FIG. 14 is a plan view similar to FIG. 1 but showing a basket modified for use with the hand truck shown in FIGS. 11 to 13.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to FIGS. 1 to 8, the material handling basket 5 is here shown as having a top angle frame 6 and a bottom angle frame 7 held in vertically spaced apart relationship by corner members 8.

The basket 5 can be closed in on its sides in any desired manner by steel, plastic, plywood or fiber panels or by wire mesh, depending on the type of material to be carried by the basket. A loose bottom panel 9 rests on the top surface of the bottom angle frame 7.

The basket 5 is preferably made in two parts and is divided diagonally on a vertical plane A. The two triangular shaped portions 10 and 11 of the bottom angle frame 7 are provided with the angle tie members 12 and 13 and the vertical corner members 8 adjacent the ends of the tie members 12 and 13 are in two parts, an angle member 8a and a flat member 8b as shown in FIG. 3. Adjacent angle members 8a and fiat members 812 are secured together by any suitable means, preferably by means of threaded studs 14 welded to one face of the angle member 8a and passing through apertures 15 in the adjacent flat member 8b. The two triangular shaped portions 10 and 11 are held together by means of the butterfly nuts 16 in the manner shown in FIG. 7.

It will be noted in the drawings that the top angle frame 6 is spaced outwardly of the bottom angle frame 7 so that the baskets can be stacked one above the other with the horizontal member 7a of the bottom angle frame 7 resting on the horizontal member 6a of the top angle frame 6 of the basket immediately below as shown in FIG. 4.

The baskets 5 can be lifted for stacking or moving from one place to another by a fork-lift truck or stacker, the forks of which can be located under either the top or bottom angle frame 6 or 7.

In order to give added rigidity to the two part basket 5 a pair of angle grips 17 are shown secured to one angle 13 of the bottom angle frame 7 to form pockets 18 into which the adjacent vertical member 19 of the angle 12 is seated.

The baskets 5 as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 can be shipped with their compliment of material to near or distant parts and be returned empty taking up greatly reduced shipping space with a consequent reduction in shipping space with consequent reduction in shipping cost. As will be seen in FIGS. 5 and 6 the two halves 10 and 11 of basket 5 can be readily separated by undoing the but terfly nuts 16 from the studs 14 and nesting the halves in the manner shown. The nested half baskets can be secured together by wire or strapping 20.

In FIG. 9 the baskets 5 are shown stacked separately, one above the other, on a frame 21 having vertical members 22 and inwardly facing horizontal members 23 adapted to support the bottom angle frames 6 of the baskets.

The bottom frame 7 of the baskets 5 have vertically disposed members 24 forming a rectangle which is used for seating the baskets in a rectangular recess 25 on the top surface of a dolly or hand truck 26 as shown in FIGS. 10 to 13. In this manner the basket can be located firmly on the dolly or hand truck and can be moved about without fear of being displaced. With this arrangement only one dolly or hand truck is required to transport any number of baskets 5 from one place to another.

In some instances, the diagonal tie members 12 and 13 can be dispensed with as shown in the plan view FIG. 14. This is particularly suitable where the dolly and hand truck 26 is provided with a self-elevating platform 27. In FIGS. 11 and 12 the elevating platform 27 is supported by the crossed tubes 28 pivoted together by the pin 29', and the rods 30 pivotally mounted on the brackets 31 on the top surface of the dolly or hand truck 26 and the under surface of the platform 27. Springs 32 within the tubes 28 force the platform 27 upwards into its elevated position. Coil springs 33 provide added support for the platform 27 and, in addition, tend to stabilize the platform against uneven loading.

As will be seen in FIGS. 11 and 12 the opening bottom basket 5 can be lowered into place on the top of the dolly or hand truck 26 about the elevated platform 27 and, as the basket is lowered into place the elevated platform 27 will engage and support the loose bottom 9 of the basket. In this particular arrangement the dolly or hand truck can be provided with vertical members 34 which can be used to guide the basket as it is lowered on to or lifted off the dolly or hand truck 26. The members 34 can also be used to move the dolly or hand truck about.

When the basket 5 is loaded the platform 9 will be lowered against the compression of the springs 32 and 33. When the loaded basket 5 is lifted up, the bottom frame 7 of the basket will engage with the edge of the loose bottom 9 and the load will be lifted up clear of the dolly or hand truck.

While the dolly or hand truck 26 is shown as having caster type wheels 35 it will be realized that it can take other forms such as a hydraulic or mechanically operated elevated truck in which the elevating platform will engage with the lower frame 7 of the basket 5.

The above described basket or container is capable of wide use in material handling as it is not restricted in the use by having wheels permanently attached as is the case with many containers now in use. Due to the absence of wheels and the fact that the lower angle frame is set inwardly of the upper angle frame, the lower angle frame in one basket or container can be nested within the upper angle frame of the container immediately below in such a manner that the containers can be stacked to a considerable height without fear of the stack falling over.

As the baskets or containers are made of two separable parts of similar size and shape, the separate parts can readily be nested with each other for return empty shipment, taking up only a fraction of shipping space required for unseparated container and at greatly reduced shipping cost. The removable bottom panels of the containers can also be bundled and return shipped as a separate item.

Due to the open bottom design of the basket or container, it can be used with a variety of types of dollys or hand trucks as may be found in most warehouses.

What I claim is:

1. A transportable material handling basket or container of rectangular shape, the said container being made in two separable parts of triangular shape in plan view, each of said two parts having two sides and a bottom, the said two separate parts of the container each comprising a top angle frame and a bottom angle frame and vertical corner members connecting the said top and bottom frames in spaced apart relationship, fastening means to secure the said two parts together, the said containers being stackable one above another similar container when the two separate parts are joined together, and the separable parts are nestable in each other for return empty shipment.

2. A transportable material handling basket or container as set forth in claim 1 in which the said vertical members of the separate triangular parts forming diagonally opposite corner members of the container are joined together by separable securing means.

3. A transportable material handling basket or container as set forth in claim 1 in which the top and bottom angle frames have a horizontal member projecting outwardly from a downwardly projecting vertical member and the top angle frame is offset horizontally outwards with respect to the bottom angle frame.

4. A transportable material handling basket or container as set forth in claim 3 in which the offset of the to angle frame with respect to the bottom angle frame is such that the bottom angle frame of one container is nesta-ble in the top angle frame of a similar container immediately below to form a stack of containers.

5. A transportable material handling basket or container as set forth in claim 1 in which the separate triangular shaped parts of the container each have a diagonal member located in contiguous relationship to each other in the plane of the bottom angle frame and at least one clip secured to one of the said diagonal members engages with the other of said diagonal members.

6. A transportable material handling basket or container as set forth in claim 1 in which the said bottom angle frame has vertically depending members forming a rectangle and the said members are engageable in a rectangular slot in a container transporting dolly or hand tnuck.

'7. A transportable material handling basket or container as set forth in claim 1 in which the containers are adapted for stacking one above the other on a fixed frame with the containers being slidable on horizontal members on the fixed frame.

8. A transportable material handling basket or container as set forth in claim 1 in which a loose load carrying panel is supported on the upper surface of the said bottom angle frame.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,975,929 3/ 1961 Sjoblom 2204 3,217,449 11/1965 Levere 211182 X'R 3,266,656 8/ 1966 Kridle 220-4 2,944,672 7/ 1960 Simpson 211-49 3,1 12,033 11/ 1963 Weissert 21149 3,047,183 7/ 1962 Papa 220-4 3,23 6,405 2/1966 Reil 2 20-4 3,331,524 7/ 1967 Wiley 220- 4 ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

R. D. KRAUS, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.'R. 220-4 

